Mobile application development is the process of creating and developing software and application programs for mobile phones and smart devices. These applications and software programs are already installed during the manufacture of the mobile device or purchased from mobile phone software vendors and then installed on the phone, or downloaded directly to the mobile phone via your web browser (via its HTTP functionality that uses client and server-side processing). But since this is a very broad topic, this article will help you get acquainted with mobile app development.
Mobile phone application programs and software are being designed, built and developed to run on today’s most popular mobile device environments and platforms. These are the Android operating system, Blackberry OS, HP webOS, Windows Mobile, Symbian OS, and Apple iOS. These runtimes only support the codes and binaries that correspond to your operating system. But what is common among most mobile phones is that they use ARM processors. Through the commonly used ARM architecture, mobile application codes and binaries are executed in machine form for the device’s processor to read. However, mobile app development still needs to be done using tools for specific mobile operating systems.
As a developer, it is always essential to determine and make an analysis of which platforms or environments to use for the development of mobile phone applications and programs. Mobile software development gives the programmer exposure to the tools of the trade, allowing him to write the code faster, test it, and then implement the mobile application for certain mobile phones and their operating systems. Some of the well-known development environments for mobile app development include the following: Adobe AIR, Android, Application Craft, Aqua, Battery Tech, Blackberry, Canappi, CloudPact, Corona SDK, iOS SDK, Java ME, Macromedia Flash Lite, Meme SDI,. NET Framework, Symbian, Windows Mobile, and webOS.
After each development phase, the built and developed modules of the mobile application must undergo a series of tests to determine whether it works according to the established requirements or not. The project team should assign one of its members to perform the functionality tests and verifications. For mobile application development, these are the mobile application test environments that can be used for Android, iPhone and Blackberry operating systems:
- Google Android Emulator
- Official Android SDK Emulator
- MobiOne
- iPhoney; Y
- Blackberry stimulator.
Other tools include FoneMonkey, Robotium, Sikuli, and MITE.
These are the things to keep in mind when starting to develop applications and software programs for mobile phones and smart devices. It is quite difficult and time consuming to undertake a mobile application development project, as there are many requirements to consider and it takes a lot of time for analyzes, simultaneous development of different modules and their integration into a fully functional one. application, and the testing phase to be carried out meticulously. Mobile application software development is similar to system software development for computers and web applications, and website development: the project product goes through the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) phases. Therefore, the only difference is the development environments and operating systems where the mobile applications will be deployed.